Mission + History

About the magazine

OUR MISSION

RENDER is an independently published print magazine on a mission to smash oppressive systems in the food industry. We are dedicated to addressing issues of gender, race, and class in the food industry; writing praise for women-identified, trans, and non-binary people who are slaying it in the food world; critiquing + reflecting on contemporary food culture; sharing self-care tips; and empowering our community with knowledge about the food we eat and the way our food systems and industries impact us all.

Our history

RENDER WAS THE CULMINATION OF A LIFELONG STRUGGLE WITH FOOD.

In January 2010, I began attending Pacific Northwest College of Art at the same time that my lifetime food fixation had peaked. Everything in my life was changing, and the only thing I could control was my body. And just like that, without even realizing it, I had slipped and fallen into the throes of anorexia, and built up a very strong and unhealthy ability to restrict in order to maintain my nearly food-free lifestyle. By the time I chose the path to recovery later that year, I had amassed piles of food magazines, all of which I devoured with my eyes every single day.

It took all of my college years plus two to recover from my eating disorder, although it never really went away. Throughout my time at PNCA I obsessively focused each and every project on food and my body.

Come senior year, I decided that my senior thesis would focus on food issues, specifically my relationship with food. Go figure. Inspired by the piles of food magazines I had been collecting – and disappointed by the lack of representation of woman-identifying chefs, body-positive content, and the like – I began developing RENDER.

The first issue, FLESH, came out in 2014. And as the title might suggest, this issue was focused very much on body image, nourishment, dieting, and disordered eating – the very issues that drove me to start RENDER in the first place.

Three years later, RENDER has grown and our mission has evolved. The magazine has become a place to call out oppressive systems and behavior in food media and in the food industry, and a tool for educating our readers about the history and the future of food traditions, cultures, and systems. RENDER is a platform for all sorts of voices in the food industry, from the scholarly to the underrepresented and unheard. What stories do you have to tell?